Holding On (Memories) (6 page)

“Are we done yet?” I whine.

“You sound like Alec and Bing when we went to Laura Ashley.” She puts two boxes of pastels in her basket.

I look around at the stacked shelves. “I can't even draw a stick man right, Jen, so although I can shop for England, art shopping isn't really my
kinda thing.”

She mutters something under her breath before sighing. “Fine, let
’s go. I think I have everything.”

“I think you have several of everything,” I muse.

She glances at me, unamused, and turns to the counter. I shrug to myself, pick up the basket, and set it on the counter. I tap my foot as the guy behind the counter rings it through.

A loud bang makes me jump, and I turn with my hand pressed against my chest.

“Holy macaroni with extra cheese!” Jen exclaims. “What was that?”

“Sorry,” a voice mutters. “Dropped the box of brushes.”

A shadow moves from behind the counter, and the person ringing Jen's stuff through shakes his head, muttering about “incompetent pretty boys.” I purse my lips when I recognise the pretty boy.

“Adrian.” I smirk. He looks at me with his hazel eyes
, and his floppy blonde hair. He really is a pretty boy in every definition of the word. His hair is always perfectly styled, and if he has – God forbid – a spot, he won't leave the house. Seriously. I've been to his place with Jayna, and the guy has more facial creams and spot solutions than Mum and I put together.

“Lexy!” He grins at me
, and leans against the counter. I raise an eyebrow. I know that smile. “Little birdie tells me you brought yourself a real boyfriend back from Devon.”

I lean against the counter in a movement that mimics his, and smile. “That little birdie told you right.”

“I'm surprised. You didn’t mention it at the weekend. Or wait, was it that Alec guy?” His eyebrows quirk slightly. “What was it, us city boys not good enough for you? Did you need a country bumpkin to keep life exciting?”

Jen coughs behind me.

“No, not at all,” I reply. “City boy or country boy, that doesn't matter. What matters is that Alec isn't a pig-headed, egotistical asshole like most of you city boys.”

Jen snorts.

“C'mon, Lex, you know I'm not like that. You just never gave me a chance.”

“I never wanted or needed to give you a chance, Ade.” I straighten
, and grab some of Jen's bags off the counter. “There was no chance we'd ever happen. You're a friend, not a boyfriend. Accept it.”

I spin and follow Jen towards the door.

“You never know what could happen, Lexy,” Adrian calls after me. “I hope your little farmer can handle it in the big city.”

“Is that a threat?”
My eyes narrow as I look back at him, anger spreading through my body.

“Oh, no!” Jen shakes her head and drops her bags, storming across the shop. She stops right in front of Adrian,
jabbing her finger in his chest. “Listen here you little shitbag. I don't give a crap if you're a city boy or a goddamn alien, no-one threatens my best mates. Do you have that? Lay one finger on that “country bumpkin” and
this
country bumpkin will string your fucking balls from Big Ben. Are we understood?”

The guy behind the counter snickers, and Adrian looks to me. “She's a firecracker, this one, Lexy. Where did you find her?”

Jen grabs his shirt. “I'll firecrack your ass to the bottom of the River Thames if you don't shut your pretty boy mouth.” She steps back and looks him up and down. “Good thing you never went there, Lex.” She turns, glancing over her shoulder at him. “He's probably as physically mature as he is mentally, if you get my drift.”

She grabs her bags to the sound of the other guy's laughter. I follow her from the shop, fighting the urge to let my laughter erupt from me.

“Let it go, honey, let it go!” Jen leans against the wall around the corner and bends over, her shoulders shaking.

I put the bags down, resting my hands on my knees, and let the laughter take over. My stomach hurts, and tears form in my eyes. Oh, yeah, Jen won't have any problems surviving in the city. Her attitude is probably more city than the city itself.

I wipe my eyes after a few minutes, composing myself. We grab our bags and start making our way back to the underground station.

Jen might be able to handle herself in a city, but was Adrian right? Would Alec be able to?

I remember how fiercely he fought for me, for us, in Devon. But he had no competition.

I know Adrian. I know if he says Alec had better watch out, Alec had better watch out. Adrian knows too many people for it to be brushed off. One sentence from him is all it would take to start rumours circulating around the circle I used to run with. Those rumours reach my brother's circle, and they've reached Alec.

I bite the inside of my cheek. For the first time, I'm wondering if Alec coming to London was really the best idea.

~

“How was your first day?” Lexy asks.

“It was okay.” I shrug. “It's work,
y'know? It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but it's much better now I've seen you.”

I step towards her, and slip my arms around her waist. Her arms go around my waist in return, and she buries her face in my chest. I breathe in that strawberries and cream scent that's so
Lexy. We stand for a moment, just holding each other. I try to pull back, and she tightens her grip around my waist.

“Princess?” I say softly. “What's wrong?”

She shakes her head. “Nothing.” She sighs. “I just wanted a cuddle.”

I kiss the top of her head. “Are you sure? You don't sound okay.”

“I'm fine, Alec. Really.” She pulls back, looking up at me with her beautiful brown eyes, and moves to look through my kitchen cupboards. “So Dad wasn't too hard on you?”

I wish she wouldn't change the fucking subject like that. “No, he was cool. One of the guys in the office is a bit of a jerk, but I guess I can learn to live with him.”

She smiles. “Adam. He's okay, just a bit wary of new people.” She shrugs. “Dad took him on to help him out, too.”

“I think Adam will be fine. After all, I don't have my surfboar
d to use as a deadly weapon anymore.”

Lexy glances over her shoulder at me. “Oh, because you're oh so deadly with it, right?”

“Absolutely.” I grin, and lean against the table, crossing my arms. “Do you not remember yours nearly taking you out when I taught you?”

“It did not nearly take me out!” she huffs, stomping her foot. “I had it perfectly under control. It was that stupid wave.”

“Of course, Princess.”

“It's true!”

“I'm sure it is, in your mind.”

She narrows her eyes. “You're deliberately annoying me, aren't you?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because.” She shrugs.

“Because isn't really an answer, is it?”

“It is in my book.”

“Then your book needs rewriting.” I laugh.

She throws a grape at my head, giggling. I gasp in mock shock, and she freezes. One side of my lips curl upwards. She shakes her head and steps backwards.

“I'm sorry. I was aiming for the, errrr, television,” she hedges.

I run forward, and she squeals. I grasp her round the waist, tickling her. She cries out as I pull her towards the sofa. We both fall onto it, me leaning over her.

“Stop tickling me, please,” she begs, writhing and wriggling beneath me.

“Fine.” I rest my hand against her side instead, pressing my lips to hers. She stops moving for a second. She grazes her teeth along my bottom lip, sucking it into her mouth. I growl a little deep in my throat, feeling the movement all the way down to my dick.

She fists a hand in my hair, holding me against her. Her other hand grips my back, and she loops her legs around mine. I lower my hips until they're pressing against hers, my tongue slipping between her lips. She whimpers when my hips meet hers, her body tensing slightly under mine. I run my hand along her side, down her thigh, and back up. It creeps beneath her top, making contact with the hot skin waiting there.

I hear her intake of breath at the exact same time there's a knock on the door. I have half a mind to yell at them to fuck off, but Lexy break
s the kiss, grinning.

“Dinner!” she says happily.

She unwraps her body from mine, and as I climb from her to answer the door, I'm smiling. I open the door, pay the guy, and take the food. The smell of Chinese food assaults my nose, making my stomach rumble.

“Yum.” Lexy takes the bag from me and sets it on the table. She immediately begins to pull everything out.

I step up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, and I press my lips against her collarbone.

“Alec,” she scolds half-heartedly. “I'm hungry.”

“So am I, Princess,” I mutter, kissing up her neck.

“For
food
,” she stresses, holding up the prawn crackers.

“Fine.” I kiss her neck once more, a lingering touch. “But this isn't over.”

“Is it not?” She turns her face towards mine, a smile playing on her lips.

I push my hips against her ass. She audibly swallows.

“No,” I growl. “It's not fucking over.”

She grins, takes a bite of a prawn cracker, and winks. I laugh, releasing her and grabbing two forks.

Lexy slides into “her” seat at my table, and takes the fork I offer. I sit opposite her, watching her as I eat. She peers up at me, looks back down, and looks back up again. She does this several times before finally speaking.

“Why are you watching me?”

“I like watching you. You should know that by now.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Look at me too much and one day, you'll get bored of it.”

I chew slowly, my lips forming a smile.

“What?” she demands.

“That's funny.”

“How is it funny?” She puts her fork down.

“Because there is no way on this planet, or any other, that I could ever get bored of looking at you.”

“Why not?” She smiles.

“Because,” I reply.

“'Because isn't really an answer, is it?'” she mocks.

I grin. “It is in your book, remember?”

She chucks a prawn at me. Twice.

“I said I’d call you,” I grind out to Heidi on the phone. This is why I usually take a girl home straight away – no numbers involved, therefore no phone calls when the promised call doesn’t show up.

“But you haven’t,” she replies.

“I know that. I’ve been busy.”

“You weren’t going to call, were you?”

Funnily enough, I was. “Yeah, I was.”

“Hmph.” She huffs. I bite back my sigh. “Well, are you free tonight?”

“Sure am,” I reply, changing tact. “I hope that means you are too.”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t, Bing.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven?”

“See you later.”

I hang up, leaning back on my bed. Heidi is a bit annoying, but get her in a bedroom and goddamn, that girl knows what she’s doing. In fact, she’s good enough that she might even stay around for longer than just two or three fucks.

And, a small part of my mind whispers, it’ll show another blonde that you can hold down a relationship.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” I wave my hand in front of Jen's face as we cross the university courtyard after our first day.

“Huh?” She focuses on me. “Yes. I'm here.”

“What's wrong? You've been in an odd mood all day. You and Carl still not talking?”

“Yeah... We are. He called a few days ago and did some serious grovelling.” She shrugs.

“Is he coming up then?”

She shoots a look at me. “Don't be so damn stupid. Of course he isn't bringing his lazy ass up here to see me. You'll laugh when you hear his solution to the problem, really, you will. I nearly peed myself.”

That comment earns her a couple of odd looks from people around us.

“What was his solution?”

“That we Skype. We fucking
Skype.
”

“That's not... That bad.” I shrug.

“For two hours a day. Every day.”

“Ah.”

Jen raises her eyebrows in agreement. “When exactly am I supposed to find two frickin' hours out of my day to Skype him? Is text messaging dead?”

I snort. “You sound like you're from the future.”

“I'm being serious. I can't exactly do coursework
and
talk to him on Skype, can I?” She shakes her head. “Ridiculous.”